Digital Eyewear

ABSTRACT

Improved eyewear is disclosed. The eyewear comprises a frame member and a lens. The eyewear also includes circuitry within the frame member for enhancing the use of the eyewear. A system and method in accordance with the present invention is directed to a variety of ways to enhance the use of eyeglasses. They are: (1) media focals, that is, utilizing the eyewear for its intended purpose and enhancing that use by using imaging techniques to improve the vision of the user; (2) telecommunications enhancements that allow the eyeglasses to be integrated with telecommunication devices such as cell phones or the like; and (3) entertainment enhancements that allow the eyewear to be integrated with devices such as mp3 players, radios, or the like.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Under 35 USC §120, this application is a divisional application andclaims the benefit of priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/245,756, filed Oct. 7, 2005 entitled “Digital Eyewear” all of whichis incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to eyewear and more particularlyto eyewear that includes additional functionality.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Eyewear is utilized for a variety of purposes. Eyewear is used forimproving one's vision for reading glasses and to protect one's vision.Oftentimes protective goggles are used to protect eyes within dangerousareas. It is desirable to add additional functionality to glasses. Thisfunctionality can include a variety of forms, which are electronic,mechanical, aesthetic, etc. Accordingly, it is always desired to provideadditional functionality to eyewear. What is desired is a system andmethod which will increase the functionality of glasses beyond theirnormal use while still maintaining them for their primary uses. Thepresent invention addresses such a need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Improved eyewear is disclosed. The eyewear comprises a frame member anda lens. The eyewear also includes circuitry within the frame member forenhancing the use of the eyewear.

A system and method in accordance with the present invention is directedto a variety of ways to enhance the use of eyeglasses. They are:

(1) Media focals, that is, utilizing the eyewear for its intendedpurpose and enhancing that use by using imaging techniques to improvethe vision of the user.

(2) Telecommunications enhancements that allow the eyeglasses to beintegrated with telecommunication devices such as cell phones or thelike.

(3) Entertainment enhancements that allow the eyewear to be integratedwith devices such as MP3 players, radios, or the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram that illustrates Media focals.

FIG. 2 illustrates an information bar on media focal eyewear.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the features of eyewear that are utilizedin a music environment such as an MP3 player.

FIG. 3 a illustrates a plurality of MP3 player eyewear users in akaraoke performance.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram that illustrates eyewear that is utilized as acell phone.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram that illustrates the cellular phone circuitryof FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates generally to eyewear and more particularlyto eyewear that includes additional functionality. The followingdescription is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art tomake and use the invention and is provided in the context of a patentapplication and its requirements. Various modifications to the preferredembodiments and the generic principles and features described hereinwill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the presentinvention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but isto be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles andfeatures described herein.

A system and method in accordance with the present invention is directedto a variety of ways to enhance the use of eyeglasses. There are threeareas of eyeglass enhancement which are identified in the presentapplication. They are:

(1) Media focals that is, utilizing the eyewear for its intended purposeand enhancing that use by using imaging techniques to improve the visionof the user.

(2) Telecommunications enhancements that allow the eyeglasses to beintegrated with telecommunication devices such as cell phones or thelike.

(3) Entertainment enhancements that allow the eyewear to be integratedwith devices such as MP3 players, radios, or the like.

Finally, these features can be utilized together to provide a user withall of the above-enhanced features. To describe the features of thepresent invention in more detail refer now to the following descriptionin conjunction with the accompanying figures.

1. Media Focals 100

FIG. 1 is a diagram that illustrates Media focals 100. Media focals 100comprises an information bar 102, receiver 104, digital circuitry 106,frames 108 and lens 110. Media focals 100 allow for enhancing theeyewear for its primary purpose, for example, a digital camera could beplaced within the eyewear to allow for seeing certain of these images.For example, the circuitry 106 for the media focals 100 could be placedwithin the frame 108 of the eyewear. The lens 110 could have a totallyreflective surface, or a partially reflective surface using LCDs or thelike. In effect the eyewear could look like see-through glasses, butthrough the use of the circuitry 106 within the eyewear it is actually amedia focal. Additionally, the eyewear could incorporate a camera toproject the user onto a second lens to achieve a see-through effect.

In a preferred embodiment, an information bar 102 is provided across aportion of the eyewear which is visible to the user. This informationbar 102 is used to convey a variety of types of information.

FIG. 2 comprises an information bar 102′ on media focal eyewear. Theinformation bar 102′ can be a stock ticker scrolling across the topportion of the eyewear, as is shown in FIG. 2. Although the informationbar 102′ is shown displaying a stock ticker, other kinds of informationsuch as song titles, lyrics and the like could be displayed in theinformation bar. This information bar is referred to as E-focals. Thisinformation might be provided from a digital receiver through an FMstation, through a cellular wireless device, or an MP3 player.Additional functionality of the E-focal will be described with moredetail with respect to the cell phone enhancements as well as the musicplayer enhancements.

One of the key features of the media focals 100 is the use of the mediafocals to enhance the primary function of the user, that is, being ableto more accurately and clearly see the objects. In such an environment,for example, it is possible to have a zoom feature circuit to allow forthe use of the eyewear as binoculars. This would allow for the user tosee objects more closely based on certain activities of the user. Forexample, there may be eye or pressure sensors on the eyewear that willactivate the binocular circuitry in the glasses which could receivevisual data through a camera, CCD receiver of the like.

In the preferred embodiment, the circuitry 106 would be locatedsomewhere in the frame of the glasses to provide this functionality andas circuits became smaller and devices became smaller it would be easierand easier to embed the circuitry that is well known for use for suchfunctions directly within the device. The circuitry 106 in the devicecould be, for example, eye sensors which could be pressure sensors,capacitive sensors or some other type of sensor for allowing the eyes todirect the activities. Eye movement sensors, for example, could be usedto activate and control the binocular glasses. Similarly, a digitalcamera could be put on the glasses that would allow the same kinds oftechnology to take pictures by the person directly.

In a similar vein, the glasses could be used as a normal corrective lensglass utilizing the digital imagery, so that, for example, a user has acertain prescription that they use with their normal prescriptionglasses to view an object clearly. As the user's eyes change, it wouldbe possible that an optometrist could download the new prescription tothe eyewear such that a digital transformation of the image informationis provided which is compatible with the new prescription.

Also, in a preferred embodiment a method for sensing and controlling thedigital media could be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, anactivity of the eye itself would control the activity of the mediafocal. So, for example, if the idea was to zoom the image, the eye wouldblink twice. It would also be possible to detect facial and eyemovements (squinting, for example), as well as changes in the pupil andiris.

In a further embodiment, it would be possible for the eyeglasses inaccordance with the present invention to function within a client/servermodel or Bluetooth (wifi) model. Utilization of the client/server modeland Bluetooth wifi would make possible, for example, the display of livenews or special reports (such as financial reports) from the Internet orsimilar sources on the eyeglasses. This would also allow for portions ofcircuitry to be located remotely such that less circuitry in the eyewearis required.

The eyewear could also include a logo, for example, law enforcementofficers could have their glasses emblazoned with “Police”, “Sheriff”,“MP”, etc.; young people could have their eyeglasses emblazoned withwords and images that reflected their favorite performers, etc.; sportsteams could offer the eyeglasses at discount with team monograms, etc.They could also be purchased by companies, emblazoned with the companylogos, and given out as retirement gifts, etc.

2. Music Environment

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of eyewear 300 that is utilized in a musicenvironment such as an MP3 player. FIG. 3 comprises eyewear 300, aninformation bar 302, MP3 player circuitry 304, storage 306, frames 308,and one or a plurality of lenses 310. Another environment as has beenabove described is the music environment. What would be desirable wouldbe to provide music glasses in which an MP3 player on an IPod or thelike is incorporated in the eyewear, either in a wired or wirelessenvironment. Through the use of this type of system, a plurality ofusers could be networked via an MP3 player type environment within ahotspot, or the like, which would allow one to have downloads ofwhatever music is required through the eyeglasses. The system couldallow for downloadable music which could be selected via scrolling andthe like through voice recognition systems.

By connecting to a client-server network or Bluetooth wifi installation,for example, the eyeglasses could link to a multimedia network,authorize downloading and billing for selected music. By this means,access to a plurality of libraries for music selections could beprovided.

It would also be possible to provide access to streaming audio media.Also, access can be provided to multimedia libraries, etc., via theclient/server model.

Information could be received via a digital client/server model enabledto work with iPods or MP3 players. Similarly, bluetooth wirelesstechnology could be utilized to provide access to music and live audiosources.

The eyewear could also be utilized in conjunction with wirelesstechnology to allow a user or a plurality of users to participatesimultaneously in single or group karaoke singing. The eyewear could beused specifically to display the lyrics of a song, melody, notes, nameof the song or other associated references.

It would also be possible to receive and listen to AM or FM radiosignals, via an AM/FM radio tuner connected to the eyewear hardware.

In this type of environment, the headphones can be either digital oranalog. The user doesn't need to have 10,000 songs, for example. Theycan come enrolled in an in-song virtual network library upon entering ahotspot. Therefore, the local storage 306 could be limited. In addition,this would provide location identity information for one who is usingthe network. The songs can be streamed as well as downloaded. The songscould be purchase using the eyewear. The system could be scaleable;depending upon what kind of device was being used.

3. Telecommunications Environment

FIG. 4 is a block diagram that illustrates eyewear that is utilized as acell phone 400. FIG. 4 comprises cellular phone circuitry 402, amicrophone 104, frames 408 and one or a plurality of lenses 410. Thecell phone eyewear 400 could be implemented utilizing digital telephonetechnology. Circuitry 402 within the eyewear could be utilized to allowa telephone number or other visual information such as that provided bymultimedia messaging services to be displayed on the lens 410 of theeyewear as shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a block diagram that illustratesthe cellular phone circuitry of FIG. 4. FIG. 5 comprises noisecancelling circuitry 502, voice recognition circuitry 504, caller IDcircuitry 506 and speaker recognition circuitry 508 and media processingcircuits 509. The telephone number could be activated via the digitalcircuitry 402 as part of the media focals 100. In addition, thecircuitry could be made truly digital via a digital signal processorwhich is coupled to a camera otherwise in the environment. The abovesystem would allow for voice recording through use of a microphone 104and would allow for voice recognition through use of the voicerecognition circuitry 504, which would allow for signal conditioning onthe cell phone in a variety of ways.

The cell phone environment 402 provides a plurality of areas forimprovement utilizing existing technologies. Firstly, one of the majorannoyances in cell phone use is that the users have to speak in a loudmanner because of background noise and the like. There are a variety ofreasons for this problem including the placement of the microphone ofthe cell phone relative to the speaker's mouth, due to theaforementioned background noise, and other issues. By placing themicrophone 104 strategically on the eyewear such as near the noise ormouth the user will not have to speak as loudly. The microphone couldalso be located in flip down microphones. In addition noise cancelingcircuitry 502 could be utilized to remove the background noise. Themicrophone capability would include the advantage of utilizing noiserejection techniques. Buttons located on the eyewear can be utilized tocontrol features thereon. Finally, the microphone 104 could utilizewhisper technology such that the speaker will not have to speak asloudly.

The eyewear would in a preferred embodiment include voice recognitioncircuitry 504 and caller ID circuitry 506. The conventionality forhearing and talking in a preferred embodiment would be located in earand nose pad portions of glasses. Referring back to FIG. 3, theelectronics for the cell phone in a preferred embodiment would be withinthe frame 308 of the eyewear. In addition the eyewear would include afully integrated information bar 302. Finally, a speaker recognitionalgorithm 508 as shown in FIG. 5 would allow only the voice of the userto be recognized and the background noise would be cancelled.Accordingly, the unique characteristics of the speaker are provided viaan audible model.

This can performed utilizing a variety of methods. For example analyzingthe voice of the user and combining the analysis with noisecancellation. In another example the user can talk softly and cancelnoise and a directional microphone is used which takes advantage ofdevice location.

Similar to the media focal and MP3 player environments, a digitalclient/server or Bluetooth/wifi model could be adapted to link theeyewear to external communication equipment. Such equipment couldinclude digital cell phones, PDAs or wifi enabled PCs or other devices.Such an embodiment could enable review of voicemail, screen viewedemails, text to speech audio email conversions, multimedia messagingservices, and other data sources.

Wireless or Bluetooth interconnection could also make possible VOIPglasses to be utilized instead of a cell phone. Other features enabledby a wireless link could link the eyeware to MP3 devices, an iPod, aprinter, wireless/wired TV, coupons, and the like. Also “PDA glasses”could provide built in a time display, alarm calendar, interfacing withPCs or network sources, a speaker and the like.

Although the present invention has been described in accordance with theembodiments shown, one of ordinary skill in the art will readilyrecognize that there could be variations to the embodiments and thosevariations would be within the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. Accordingly, many modifications may be made by one ofordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe appended claims.

1. A method comprising: providing an eyewear having a frame member, alens coupled to the frame member wherein the lens has a set ofintegrated media enhancements, a circuitry within the frame member, thecircuitry enhancing the use of the eyewear, and an eye sensor coupled tothe frame member, the eye sensor activating the circuitry responsive toan eye motion of a user; and employing an eye motion to engage at leastone of the set of integrated media enhancements.
 2. The method of claim1 further comprising zoom feature circuitry to allow for the use of theeyewear as binoculars.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the eye motionis selected from a group consisting of blinking an eye twice, squintingan eye, changing the state of a pupil and an iris of an eye, andfocusing an eye in one direction for a sustained period of time.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is one selected from the groupconsisting of a binocular circuitry and a digital camera circuitry.